SABA GB Announces 2011 Board

Congratulations and Welcome to SABA GB's 2011 Board

Sa'adiyah K. Masoud - President
Lalitha R. Gunturi - Vice President
Sonia Shah - Treasurer
Neetu Sehgal -Clerk

Hanishi T. Ali
Manisha Bhatt
Mehreen Butt
Pallavi Chintapalli
Naveen Ganesh
Roy Issac
Avani Lodhavia
Shaan Majmudar
Jigisha B. Patel
Gauri Patil
Anil P. Ranganath
Veena Reddy
Monica S. Singh
Viji Sritharan

Renew Your SABAGB Membership

Membership is vitally important to project the strength of the South Asian legal community. The annual dues support a large number of high impact programs including mentor-mentee programs, fellowships and community education programs such as "Know Your Rights," "Chai Chats" etc. Your involvement begins with membership and is essential for the strength and growth of the organization.

Annual membership fees are as follows:
Law Firm Members: $50.00
Law Students: Free
Non-Firm Attorneys: $25.00

If you have any questions about membership or need help with signing up, please contact Roy Issac (rissac@elmorepatents.com), Jigisha Patel (ji.patel@neu.edu) or Gauri Patil (gpatil@nixonpeabody.com).

SABA GB Annual Gala

The South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston held a successful annual gala on Wednesday, December 1st at the Taj Hotel in Boston. A huge thank you to Keynote Speaker Amardeep Singh, Esq., Co-founder of the Sikh Coalition, whose keynote address was particularly insightful and inspiring.

As part of the function, SABA GB honored Greater Boston Legal Services for its outstanding partnership with SABA GB as its 2010 Member of the Year Award. Robert Sable, GBLS Executive Director, and Manisha Bhatt, a SABA GB Board Member and a Senior Attorney at GBLS, accepted the award on GBLS' behalf. Manisha has been instrumental in the launch of SABA GB's Know Your Rights! Program which was launched this fall with the support of GBLS and several other community organizations.

SABA GB also honored 2010 board member Sonia Shah for her excellence in leadership with the Annapoorni R. Sankaran Award. Sonia will be continuing on the 2011 SABA GB board as its Clerk. SABA GB also expressed its gratitude to Natasha Varyani, 2010 SABA GB President and co-chair of the 2010 NASABA Convention, and Taruna Garg, 2010 SABA GB Clerk, for their years of service with SABA GB. SABA GB sincerely appreciates the support of all attendees and sponsor, and thanks the Gala Planning Committee for all the hard work it put into planning this successful event.

Stay tuned for pictures from the event!

Join the Leadership Team of SABA GB!

Elections for the 2011 Board of Directors of the South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston are quickly approaching!

Board members direct the organization in fulfilling its mission by creating programs and events (both substantive and social) for the legal and South Asian communities.

Serving on the Board of SABA GB is a valuable opportunity to develop and refine leadership skills, learn about how an volunteer bar organization runs, and most importantly, to make professional contacts. Being a part of SABA GB leadership will allow you access to the Boston Bar Association, the Massachusetts Bar Association, and will allow you to work with leaders of all of Boston's Affinity Bar Associations.

If you are interested in joining the Board of SABA GB and have any questions, you may submit a candidate statement (no more than one page) to Natasha Varyani (nvaryani@mccarter.com).

Saturday, November 13

Balle Balle! Join SABA GB at the Boston Bhangra Competition

Orpheum Theater in Boston, Massachusetts

We have only a few seats left! Boston Bhangra hosts its annual bhangra competition on Saturday, November 13, 2010 at the Orpheum Theater in Boston, Massachusetts. Put on your dancing shoes and join SABA GB cheer on teams from across the nation in their premium seats. Purchase your tickets through SABA GB and obtain the premium ticket seats valued at $30 for only $25. Please contact Sa'adiyah Masoud at smasoud@donavanhatem.com to purchase tickets. Visit www.bostonbhangra.com/bbc for additional details on the show.

Wednesday, December 1

SABA GB Annual Gala - Get Your Tickets Now!

the Taj Boston Hotel.
Time: 6PM to 11PM

Know Your Rights! SABAGB Community Service Program Launched!

The Know Your Rights! Series had their inaugural event this past Monday at the Waltham Public Library. The event was a huge success! Stay tuned for updates from the organizers and participants. If you are interested in participating in the series or know someone who may be interested, please contact SABA GB Board Member Manisha Bhatt at mbhatt@gbls.org

SABA GB 2010 Attorney Mentorship Program

Look out for additional information regarding our Program Launch event in coming weeks.

For more complete information about the Attorney Mentorship Program and to fill out an application (due by October 15th), please see the attached materials.

If you have questions, feel free to contact Sonia Shah (sshah@sumaria.com) or Neetu Sehgal (Nsehgal@ugl-unicco.com).

SAALT & SABA GB Engage Over 100 Volunteers at Be The Change Event!

Congratulations to SABA GB Board Member Veena Reddy for coordinating an extremely successful Be The Change day of service last Saturday. SABA GB partnered with SAALT for the fourth year to organize a day of community service. Over 120 individuals met to help local charities, including a fund-raising walk for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Health Care For the Homeless. Volunteers met in the morning at the Boston Bar Offices to hear inspirational speeches, including the keynote by SABA GB Advisory Board Member Sunila Thomas-George,commissioner of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. Thank you to all who participated and a special thank you to all those organized the event.

NASABA NEWS: Development Committee and How You Can Help!

NASABA Development Committee

Thanks to all of your efforts as well as the efforts of our Executive Director, our Executive Assistant and other professionals engaged by NASABA, NASABA has been growing and improving over the past seven years. As part of NASABA's next step, NASABA has created a Development Committee which will be focused on creating a model through which NASABA can generate revenue over the course of the year, separate from the NASABA Convention. In these difficult economic times, we cannot rely on Convention income solely to continue NASABA operations. Moreover, there are may areas in which we would like to expand, and that will only be possible if we can financially support that growth. To address these issues, we have formed the NASABA Development Committee which will be responsible for formulating NASABA's business plan and begin to execute it. We hope to get this Committee up and running as soon as possible (and hopefully present some of its work at the NASABA Leadership Retreat) so we are seeking people to serve on this Committee. If you or someone you know are entrepreneurial, have ideas and thoughts about creative ways NASABA can generate revenue, and are interested in serving on the NASABA Development Committee, please contact Anna Sankaran at sankarana@gtlaw.com. Please send contact and some background information.

NASABA Needs You!

NASABA is looking for looking for people to take leadership roles and serve as Committee and Section Chairs in the coming year. I ask the chapter presidents and current chairs to pass this message onto their members. These are great opportunities to get involved with NASABA in ways that interest you and to work with your colleagues across the U.S. and Canada.

Committees & Sections Seeking Co-Chairs
The following NASABA Committees and Sections are looking for new Co-Chairs.
• Criminal Justice Committee
• Immigration Committee
• Endorsements Committee
• Public Interest Committee
• Newsletter Committee
• Public Relations Committee
• Membership Committee
• Business Law Section
• Corporate Counsel Committee
• Employment Law Section
• Legal Educators Section
• Prosecutors Section
• Intellectual Property Section
• Development Committee (a newly formed committee dedicated to revenue generation for NASABA on a year round basis)

If you are interested in serving as a chair of one of these Committees or Sections, or know someone who is, please send an e-mail to Anna Sankaran at sankarana@gtlaw.com


New Committees and Sections
In addition to the above, NASABA is considering starting some new Sections. Please let us know if there are individual members of your chapter that are interested in joining the following sections:
• Health Care Law Section
• Bankruptcy Law Section
• Tax Law Section
• Real Estate Section

SABA GB Launches Referral Directory!

In response to the numerous requests we receive from both the legal community and the South Asian community at large, SABA GB is excited to launch our Referral Directory. As members of SABA GB, we request you to please register through a short survey at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W8BQRPM

Your participation in this survey will allow us to refer potential clients in need of legal services to you. This is a great way to generate business for you while serving our community.
Being listed in our Referral Directory is free and is open to both SABA GB members and non-members, so please encourage your colleagues to register as well. Please feel free to forward the registration link above to any other attorneys you know who may be interested in being listed.

We thank you in advance for your participation. If you have any questions, please contact Neetu Sehgal at Nsehgal@ugl-unicco.com.